The High Warlock of Glee Club
by ascreamingstrawberry
Summary: Alec Lightwood and his friends have traced what they think might be a source for the Mortal Cup to Lima, Ohio. But then again why would such a powerful scent be coming from a high school in Ohio. What might this Glee Club, or more specifically Mike Chang, have to hide?
1. Chapter 1

The Cleveland Institute was entirely different from any other Alec had ever been in. He remembered it vividly from when he had visited it as a child with his parents, purely from the amount of color the building had. Being a Shadowhunter Institute even as a child Alec knew there would never be any yellows or light blues, but the bright red was certainly a relief from the usual muddy grey of most Institutes, especially in the East. Red brick scattered the inside wall with light brown wood floors that felt almost bucolic underneath Alec's feet, and it almost felt foreign not to hear the clack of steel floors.

The first time Alec had visited the institute, neither Jace nor Izzy was with him. Max had just been born, and as much as Isabelle loved visiting other places, she had been absolutely enthralled with their baby brother for practically the first year of his life. For months, she was unable to leave his side, and any moment not spent training to attending to her studies was spent with baby Max. Alec had to admit if it had not been for his parabatai, he too would have fallen for the chubby cheeks and those baby blues of his baby brother. As for the reason Jace was not with him, that was to be blamed on the Clave, they didn't think he'd be ready to be a backseat to Shadow-politics so he stayed home to look over the other two.

The familiar scent enveloped him before he saw them, the Roseblood siblings. From what he learned from his mother, the Rosebloods were not pure Shadowhunter, over the years many of them engaged in shun worthy romances with the Downworld and even Mundanes. Yet somehow they still manage to reign the most power of the Cleveland Institute, and sometimes most of the Midwest. Charles Roseblood, the current Roseblood patriarch, had never been really all that respect, but even Alec's mother (one who seemed to trust no one and constantly gave everyone a judgemental side eye) was surprised to discover that he lied about the birthright of his eldest child. Adelaide, the current head of the Cleveland Institute, did not share the same birth mother as the rest of her three younger siblings. However, even with the illegitimacy of her birth, she still reigned head because of a prolonged absence of Charles, his current wife, and their third child: a boy a couple years younger than Isabelle with worsening aftermaths of demon possession nearly resulting in his younger brother's death.

Alec hadn't particularly gotten along with Adelaide during his stay, as she was more than a couple years his elder but had only recently seemed to want to act it. As children Alec and Elizabeth, Adelaide's younger sister by more than a decade, had even been more mature at no more than ten and nine years old. And despite not holding the power of her half-sister, Elizabeth was still the shining star of the Cleveland Institute.

As he stepped into the main part of the fond place he had not been in since nearly three quarters of a decade, Alec was greeted with the warm smiles of three of the Roseblood siblings. While the Lightwoods had a certain lightning bolt beauty about them that no one could deny mixed in with sometimes too bold of confidence, the Rosebloods were in every way more subtly interesting. Alec couldn't ignore the blatant genetic hair color he and his sister shared or the bright blue eyes that appear as photocopies from himself to Max, if you didn't look hard enough the Rosebloods would appear to look nothing alike.

The curly end of Adelaide's light brown hair stopped at her chest, where she didn't straighten it to the end, reflected off the paler color of her face. Her dark brown eyes looked emotionless as she stared the Lightwoods down from across the room. She was good looking, not as beautiful as Isabelle of course, but pretty good for Cleveland. Nathaniel, the youngest at only 10, looked so undeniably similar to Max, the resemblance was uncanny. His light blonde hair hung in front forward bangs over his face with striking blue eyes that you could see over a mile away. He stood a little leaned back, compensating for the weight of about ten extra pounds over average.

Elizabeth, however, was usually the one you noticed right away. Without anything distractedly beautiful or bright about her, her confidence created a glow around her that just wanted to suck you in and never spit you back out again. Her dark orange hair was straighter more naturally than her sister's, and it contrasted nicely with her skin tone that was slightly darker than the rest of her siblings. Her eyes, a mix of green and blue, brought out the brown freckles that scattered around her cheeks along with a couple here or there on her forehead.

She had always been the most interesting to him. Adelaide seemed to be just mean at time, Nathaniel could get annoying, and Theodore wasn't around very much to have an opinion on. So of course it only seemed reasonable that as soon as they stepped in the door she would tackle him with a bear hug. Alec reached over to hug her while his mother, two brothers, sister, and Clary and Simon stayed behind him.

"Alec, I am severely mad at you, you big bastard." She said, her white hat bouncing against the top of his head as she hugged him. She never did follow that whole "looking better in black than the widows of our enemies" thing.

"For being better looking than you?" He smiled, genuinely for the first time in a while, and it felt good.

"You know that's not true. No call? Honestly if I didn't love you so much, I wouldn't be talking to you." She said, crossing her arms and faking a pout.

"You wouldn't last." Alec smirked.

"If you say so." Eliza winked. Then there was a cough, well two coughs. One came from behind Alec, probably Jace or Clary. The other came from Adelaide, who was patiently waiting for her sister with Nathaniel standing at her side more like a lapdog than a little brother.

"Alexander, how nice to see you again." Adelaide said, no sincerity in her voice whatsoever.

"Addy, darling sound a bit more enthused. These are the Lightwoods we are talking to, and look they've brought guests." Eliza said, motioning to the group standing behind Alec.

"Isabelle, as they say, your beauty knows no bounds." Eliza reached out, wrapping her arms around the slightly taller woman.

"It's nice to finally meet you. This is Clary Fairchild, and her friend, Simon Lewis." Isabelle turned around to give a wave to the dark haired boy.

"The pleasure is mine, to all of you. Maryse, how well you look, honestly by the Angel if I ever become half as beautiful as you. So, that must make you," She said, bending down and pointing to the smallest Lightwood. "The legendary Jace Wayland."

Max laughed, watching her hand as she continued. "Honestly, I mean it is such a honor sir. You are just one of the best looking Shadowhunter around."

"Actually, I'm Max." The nine year old said with a beaming smile.

"Even better. Hear that Jace guy is a bit of a tosser really. Now Max on the other hand, word around is, that he is the favorite Lightwood child." Eliza's face lit up as she talked, in all of their letters back and forth she talked about wanting to teach the studies for young kids, and Alec always knew she'd be insanely good at it.

"Elizabeth." Adelaide spoke again, her sister's cheeriness clearly getting on her nerves. Elizabeth lowered her head, her smile fading before she stepped backwards into place in between her siblings.

"Lightwoods and company, please follow me, I'll show you to your rooms and we can start talking about your assignment."


	2. Chapter 2

"So this is the main hallway, this where people at the top tend to stay as most of the paperwork offices and emergency rooms are right down this hallway to your left." Eliza said reaching around Alec , who in all his excitement to see his old friend had forgotten a little thing one calls "Personal Space". It wasn't his fault, and despite the oddly simultaneous look of scandal and approval coming from his mother, he really didn't mean anything by it. Sure he liked Elizabeth, after all that confidence of hers had him adoring her for the first two weeks they'd known each other, but she and him just didn't feel that way about each other.

Plus he wasn't her type anyway. Alec was too 'much' for her, that was what she had said. A bit ironic really, considering he'd always considered himself not enough for people. "I don't know how to explain it man," she had said. "I need somebody who completes me, not competes with somebody. I need somebody to cool me down, and as my best friend, you get me all ramped up."

Best friend. Two words Alec had never heard in utterance to himself before, considering he and Jace were only just getting to know each other. At the time, Alec hadn't really wanted to get to know Jace , he already had a brother and a best friend, so he didn't really need another one of each. However as her brother's condition worsened by the time they both hit puberty (and the fact that puberty just had a natural tendency to drift boy-girl friendships apart, especially cross-country boy-girl friendships with dating, Shadowhunter training, etc.), they weren't as close.

It was almost like Jace had been waiting for him with open arms, and Alec and Jace became well, Alec and Jace. Just like that. Eliza and Alec still talked, sometimes over phone calls and definitely at Idris councils and stuff, but they were never as close as they were. The sound of his little brother's voice brought him out of his memories and back to the tour, which he really didn't need considering he could probably tell Eliza where all the bathrooms are.

"What does it mean to be at the top?" Max asked, Maryse's eyes flashed disappointment for babrely a nanosecond before Eliza hopped on to his answer.

"Well it means these living quarters belong to the most important people in the whole Institute." She says, leaning down to run a hand through his hair. "So it only makes sense you and your mom will be staying in this hall."

"And the rest of us?" Clary asked, finally bothering to speak.

"Oh my fellow ginger, we shall be staying in my home inside my home on the other side of the building, known as Family Disappointment Hall. I mean it's such a honor to have a hall dedicated to me, and I'm enthralled to have you bunking it up alongside me." Eliza said with an over dramatic, clearly sarcastic smile and tone. Either way, Alec tried to his smile at her amusement.

Her sister coughed. "When you're done praising your own insubordination, maybe you get the Lightwoods and company to their rooms so they can get settled down before our meeting."

"Of course, m'lady." Eliza said with a bob of her head and a bow of her legs that was no long insubordinate, but just plain insolent. "This way."

"When do we get to stop being referred to as 'and company'?" Simon asked as Eliza led them out of the hall, and to a long stretched hallway where the brick was a lighter shade of red than in the rest of the Institute. There was also a lot blue complimenting the brick around (whether it be the shutters or the warm blue of the ceiling above them) it just brought Alec a feeling of calm. The stark white and blacks and greys of other institutes used to unease Alec as a child, they always seemed so, mean. Sharp. Like the walls would cut him.

"So my bedroom is at the end of the hall, there's bathrooms in each of your rooms, and there's a lounge with a fridge and a mini kitchen inside the first door to your right. The other two on the right and all three doors on your left are bedrooms for you guys. I figured I'd let you guys arrange yourselves, because 1. I'm lazy and 2. Well I procrastinated on coming up with a second reason so, see you in an hour I guess." Eliza turned to return to her room but Alec grabbed at her arm.

"Alec!" She said, retracting her arm and staring at him like he should have known not to do that.

"Sorry." He said, but then smiled. "See you in an hour."

And he did. He and Isabelle both chose the rooms on either side of Eliza's room, and Clary chose the one next to Isabelle's with Jace next to Alec's, leaving Simon in the third one on the left. Alec really didn't do much unpacking, he started pacing back and forth thinking about the mission and how they might try and find the Mortal Cup. By the time the hour was up, no time had passed for Alec himself, and the only thing that brought him out of his thoughts was the knock at his door.

"Alec, it's Clary. They're ready to start." She says, he can hear how nervous she is in her voice. He can see it in the way she hangs her head a little when he opens the door, normally the fiery red head walked proud and didn't blink twice to see if she'd knocked anyone down in her it were Izzy, or Eliza, or even his mom, Alec would have set a comforting hand on her shoulder but with Clary it didn't feel right.

So instead he walked past her, made sure to move a little bit faster than normal so that he had time to stop at the end of the hallway with her nearly left at the other end. Then he turned around, mustered his best confused look mixed with playful annoyance and said "You good, Fray?"

She smiled. Something familiar. Alec being annoyed with her, or maybe Alec calling her Fray. Either way the sense of something comfortable (despite how new it still was), put a small smile to her face. And whether he liked it or not, Alec felt more comfortable when Clary had a smile on her face, plus Jace would thank him for it later.


	3. Chapter 3

The only difference between the board room at the Cleveland Institute and the ones at every other Institute in the world was that the desk was in the shape of a giant sideways C. The most important people would be sat at the 'curve' of the C, and everyone else would direct themselves in the seats curving inward on either side. The projector was in the middle space between the two ends of the C.

"Welcome to Talk Your Ear Off Central." Eliza said holding her arms out with a smile on her face.

"Alright, that's enough of the jokes. We should really catch them up to speed so they can get started immediately." Adelaide said, pulling up a presentation as they all pulled their chairs away from the desk and into the center of the 'C'.

"For the past three months Eliza has stationed herself inside a high school in this small town called Lima. She's been tracking the energy that we think might lead you to the Mortal Cup. You three will blend yourselves in plain sight, and Eliza will take a step back to let you guys take over." Adelaide said.

"Sounds good. How will be hiding ourselves from the major population?" Jace asked. "Not that any should be denied this beautiful face."

"Keep thinking that buddy." Eliza said, reaching over to playfully tap his shoulder. "And actually you won't, that's the whole plain sight part of that. You'll be joining me in attending the beautiful, mostly mandatory, hellhole all mundies know as-"

"High school." Simon snarled.

"Bingo." Eliza pointed at him as if to acknowledge the correct answer.

"You know, I'm all for finding this Mortal Cup if it'll help my mom but." She said, turning specifically to the Rosebloods. "Is there anyway way I could be of use besides going undercover as a high school student?"

"Yeah, Clary and I have already done that for real, and I'd much prefer avoiding a Vietnam worthy flashback of four years of toilet water facials." Simon barked at them, before Alec decided to steal his moment and ask what exactly a toilet water facial was.

"They forcefully hold your head in a toilet." Clary said grimacing at the many of memories of having to help clean out Simon's hair.

"Sounds fun." Jace smirked in Simon's direction.

"Bully." He mumbled.

"Miss Fairchild, Mr Lewis your points are noted. Since Mr Lewis is a vampire, anyway, it's not like he could be out in the sun." Adelaide said, calming the group down.

"At least we're not 'and company' anymore." Simon laughed to no one in particular.

"So Lightwoods, you'll be spending 5 days a week, 8 hours a day in the brightly colored prison known as William H McKinley High School. In my time there I've learned it's best if you just keep yourself hidden, don't start anything with anyone and try not to get yourselves roped into clubs because that will only direct attention to yourselves. I myself, have set up a positioned in one of the most controversial clubs in the entire school and let me tell you hiding myself has not been easy." Eliza said, sitting herself down in one of the empty chairs.

"What club is that?" Clary asked, not really able to think of any 'fight worthy' clubs at her and Simon's old high school. Then again , she kinda just stayed to herself, with the exception of Simon of course, and her drawings.

"The Glee Club." Eliza said, as if the name was something dramatic.

"The what?" Alec asked.

"It's like a singing club, isn't it?" Simon asked, and Clary looked surprised that he knew what it was. "We had one, Clar, but it was only full of like six or seven girls who were nothing but attention whores."

"Simon!" Isabelle reached over and slapped his arm. He shrugged as if to say 'it's true'. Eliza threw her head back and sighed.

"I'm afraid this one's no different. Except everyone is terribly inquisitive and completely naive. Sometimes I consider telling them everything just to watch their terrible 'oh poor me' attitudes drain from their eyes as they realize the real demons aren't the show choir that has a better Journey song than them for regionals." She laughed to herself, not really paying attention to the fact that the rest of them didn't exactly know what she was talking about.

"So, let me get this straight, we pretend to be mundies for a little bit while you go sing and dance your heart out until what?" Jace asked.

"Till you get your information. Excuse me if we don't have your fancy smancy New York technology, but you'll just have to do your investigating the old fashioned way." Eliza turned and headed out the door, leaving them all to dismiss themselves for the night.

Alec was awfully quiet on the walk back to their hall, staring down at the bottom of his shoes as Jace stared at him waiting for the older boy to make conversation. Reaching the bathroom at the beginning of their hall, Jace stopped and waited for Alec to turn and look at him. Jace ran his tongue over his lip, searching for the right words to use there, and then ultimately sighing and coming out with it. "That friends of yours, a bit short tempered, ain't she?"

"Eliza? No. She just gets flustered around new people sometimes." Alec said, Eliza wasn't short tempered at all. No, she was actually one of the calmest people he'd ever known. SHe handled every frustrating situation with reason and logic before putting her emotional input, one of the few very Shadowhunter-like qualities of her.

"If you say so." Jace shrugged.

"This whole acting like mundies thing is weird." Alec blurted it out quick and fast like it was some kind of confession.

"I mean, maybe, but like haven't you ever wondered about what it would be like if we weren't half angel." Jace said, turning to lean against the wall of the hallway, partly closing his eyes as if to imagine a world where he wasn't the strongest, fastest Shadowhunter.

"I haven't known anything else." Alec said, a blush forming over his cheeks as to all the things he didn't know about. Not the raunchy stuff, just like relationships and drama and all that which had been hidden from behind the four walls of the Institute.

"This'll be good for you then. Maybe you'll get out and live a little." Jace said, clearly certain things on what Alec could do running through his head.

"Not likely. We're here for the Mortal Cup, not to get laid." Alec said.

"What's wrong with killing two birds with one stone?" Jace asked playfully.

Alec's stomach felt like it was trying to jump up out through his mouth as his head tried to slowly crush his brain that was inside of it. He heard what sounded like an echo of his sister's voice, a ghost of her hand on his shoulder, before the car came to a screeching fault and both his breakfast and his lunch had decided they didn't want to be digested. He reached open the door of the minivan and hurled the containment of his stomach onto the black pavement below him. As the car turned off, Alec dry heaved towards the ground again before tumbling out of the car (attempting to avoid the vomit on the ground) and leaning up against the side of the car. He was dizzy, and he felt two sets of hands try and steady him before his sister's face came into view.

"Alec? Alec." Isabelle's voice sounded very far away, he tried to lean toward it but ultimately lost his balance and fell into a strong pair of arms, which he assumed belonged to Jace.

"Come, kiddo, let's get you inside." The voice sounded a lot like Eliza's, but he couldn't quite tell as his vision started to blur and her and Clary looked exactly like the same orange haired blobs. He could feel people moving him, multiple hands guiding him up a couple of steps and through a door. Then he was falling, he gripped at the closest fabric in attempt to stop himself from collapsing against whatever it was.

"Alec." The voice sounded so calm, so sweet, a relief from the throbbing pain he felt almost everywhere. "We're just setting you down on the couch."

"Okay." He thinks that came out, although he wasn't really sure because as he was laid down against the soft couch his head started to swallow him, his eyes closing as if on their own circuit system. He was falling asleep, and he hurt so much, so as will dissolved he let it consume him.

When he woke up, there were three sets of eyes on him as he moved his arm to sit himself up straight. The first he saw were his sister's dark browns staring back at him, happy that he was okay now, and she was sat at the side of him kneeling down next to the couch. The next were Jace's, as he stopped pacing back and forth to take one look and knowing that Alec was all right he fell into the lounge chair next to the couch a sigh of relief escaping his lips. The third set was Eliza's, who held a glass of water in her hand and some pain killers in the other, and she smiled at him bright and comforting.

"Well that's one way to christen a new house." Simon's voice bellowed from a hallway near them as he and Clary came into Alec's view. Clary's hair was pulled back into a ponytail and Simon's glasses were hanging from his pocket. Their hands were covered in bright blue plastic gloves with a full trash bag in Clary's left hand.

"House?" Alec's voice was raspy, he hated how weak it made him sound. No one seemed to notice it however, or if they did they at least had the courtesy to not mention it.

"You probably couldn't hear me, car sickness can be a real kicker. You're staying with me here in Lima, which is about two hours away from the Institute. Your mother, Max, and Adelaide are going to report to these two over here on all mission advancements and vice versa." Eliza said, handing him the pain killers and glass of water. He dry pilled the pain killers and then chugged the water, feeling better now that his throat wasn't so dry.

Alec sat up straighter, looking around at the fairly small looking house they were in. It wasn't hard to tell that Eliza had done most of the decorating. Most of the furniture was either white or black, the couch he was sat on at the moment happened to be white scattered with dark brown pillows and a cream colored blanket draped over the side. The space behind him led to a white colored kitchen with a tint of green to match the living room. The whole house seemed small but open. The black spiral stairway on the other side of the kitchen presumably led to an upstairs.

"You're okay, right Alec?" Eliza asked, letting her concern slip into her voice, normally she was able to mask her emotions behind a cocky and cool tone but she was among friends, people she could trust.

"Yes. I would like to see the rest of the house." He said.

"It's small, normally meant for only a few people to live in but I've had my team make the proper arrangements. The study has been tarped so that no sunlight can get in but still has an amazing wifi connection for our geeky little vampire. Alec and Jace can take the smaller bedroom down the hall to our right here and the girls and I will be in the master bedroom here." She said opening the door to a beautifully simple gray bedroom. Three beds, all tucked into different corners of the room (with a closet space tucked into the last) were covered in pastel blue bedsheets. There wasn't much to the room, it was about as large as the living room, but what little furniture was there seemed to be a happy medium between the three girls.

As Alec and Jace took them to their room, the boys was something similar. The light brown contrasted well against the orange bed sheets, something Alec would normally never be caught in. Orange was meant for the criminally charged and yet it somehow shaped the room so it felt bigger enough for two young adults teetering both above 5'10. Simon's bedroom was white with it's hints of red and black, like in the bed frame that had clearly taken the place of a bookshelf as by the shadow of dust left against the wall.

Alec fell back against the bed softly, the quiet that had fallen over the house not calming his nerves a single bit. Why did that little girl have to get them involved in this whole mess? Why couldn't his mother have just gone to check out whatever this lead may or not be? And why couldn't they just stay at the Cleveland Institute and portal in? Also why did he sound so fricking whiny?

He huffed in frustration, kicking the end of the bed with the back of his heel. Beside him, he heard a chuckle erupt from Jace's chest, the genuine sounding kin of laugh that almost said me too man. "You good?"

"No." Alec pouted.

"Wanna talk about it?" Jace asked.

"No." Alec retorted turning on his side to face the blonde. Jace smiled, turning to face him as well and Alec was reminding of a similar situation when they were younger. Sleepovers in Alec's room at the Institute, staying up way past curfew just to talk. About studies, parents, that one time Jace thought he had a crush on Isabelle when he was 15 but it turned out to just be puberty working its magic.

"Me neither." Jace said.

"Glad we have that covered." Alec said, laughing. Before long the two were laughing away their problems,letting it consume what oxygen was left in the room before th e pair eventually called it a night.


	4. Chapter 4

Alec hated the idea of a high school, the concept of it just seemed to aggravate him. At the Institute, families were assigned a tutor so that each child could learn and grow to play their strengths and to avoid weaknesses. Class sizes tended to range no more than ten people so that they could maximize the precision in each student's form, discipline, and success. High school was, from what he learned about it, the exact opposite. Class sizes were outrageously huge and everyone learned the exact same thing, never specializing any of their strengths. High school, in his opinion, is one of the worst things ever created by mundanes.

He just hoped that his first day would prove him wrong. The car ride there was nearly a repeat of the day before, thankfully though Isabelle kept talking to him and having him drink the digusting water bottle (mundane's water is so polluted, how do they all not have weird radiation mutations) in his hands. And when he arrived he learned that Isabelle and Jace weren't going to be in the same classes as him because they were a year younger, which was preposterous because they are just as smart as he is, if not more but at least he shared classes with Eliza. Juniors. That's what she had called them, he and Eliza were juniors. He didn't bother to learn what Isabelle and Jace were called, he had more important stuff to learn today.

As soon as he had stepped in the door he could feel all those beating little eyes staring him down, judging him inside and out. They had glamoured all their runes except for the Mark, that one took a lot of energy to cover up and they all agreed that it was best if they didn't use it all up glamour. Eliza left a couple of hers unglamoured just because she didn't have many, the Cleveland Institute wasn't focused as much as masking their Shadowhunters the best, they were more liberal, they wanted them to know the Accords more than they could know their own name they were a very political branch of Shadowhunter.

"Okay, so first period Alec and I have English, you two have Geometry. So second, Alec has Spanish, and I have French so we'll be in the Foreign Language hall which is right down the hall from your History class that mod. Then we switch halls, we'll be in US Gov, and you'll be in English. After that we'll all be in the Science wing for Chemistry and Biology. Gym is 4th mod so we;ll be there together, and then lunch is fifth. After lunch, Alec and I have Algebra 2 you guys will be in study hall. Sophomore Spanish is seventh for you guys, we have Economics that period Alec. Eighth for you guys is Home Ec, Alec and I have a study hall. And ninth mod is your arts class and you'll pick those when you get there. Got it?" Eliza asked handing them all a sheet of paper.

"No." They all said in unison as a bell rang.

"Crap, that's the warning bell. Okay, um." She looked around a minute before spotting someone in the crowd and walking in that direction. The three of them followed her like a pack of sheep lost in the village without their owner. The girl she met up to had long black air, and wore a red Victorian style dress with black lace over the shoulders. The two talked for a moment before Eliza sprouted a smile and turned back to them.

"Jace, Isabelle this is Tina. She's going to show you guys to your classes when I'm not with you, okay?" Eliza asked, and the two nodded. Jace and Isabelle said their greetings and Alec barely caught the last bits of their conversation as Eliza pulled him towards a classroom.

"Don't you think that dress is a little too revealing?" Tina asked.

"No, they call it the Cleveland neckline." Isabelle said, pointing to the serious amount of cleavage that she was showing.

First period wasn't so bad, Alec had Eliza to crutch on through the awkward introduction but other than that it went okay. Surprisingly they did more reading of English than they did talking or learning about it. The 45 minutes flew by and before he knew it Alec was meeting with Isabelle and Jace who both had very confused and very frustrated looks on their faces.

"I just don't get it." Isabelle shrugged her shoulders, pushing aside the math class from her mind but Jace was harping on it.

"It's shapes! There shouldn't be any math in it." As they approached the History room Eliza smiled at the pair of them and put a comforting hand on Jace's shoulder and told him to breathe. He waited a moment, Isabelle already walking into the room to take her seat before turning to Alec.

"You good?" Jace asked.

"Yeah." Alec nodded.

"Just remember, it's history. The answer is probably either racism or money." Eliza said, pushing Jace into the room giving him no time to come back out and complain. She walked Alec to the door of the Spanish room and paused taking a moment to scan his face for any sign of panic. Alec was sure he was hiding the sweaty palms and the irregular heartbeat pretty well, but then again you could never tell with her she always seemed to know what was going on with other people.

"Don't be nervous. It's just Spanish, the Lightwoods are Hispanic." She said, patting his shoulder before walking into the classroom. At the desk was a short, curly haired man in an awful grey vest that reminded Alec of the 90 year old representative from the German Institute.

"Mr. Schue!" Eliza said catching the man's attention.

"Hola, Eliza. What can I do for you today?" His voice was calm, and his smile seemed nice. Alec was quiet, he wasn't planning on talking very much but it was a little comforting to know that his teacher seemed mellow enough. Last thing he needed was another Mom riding his back, although he couldn't quite imagine this Mr. Schue in one of his mother's council dresses.

"This is my cousin, Alec. His brother and sister are going to be in your Sophomore class later and I was wondering if you could do me a favor and look out for them. Their family is actually a bit Hispanic so the class shouldn't be a problem, just makes sure nobody gives them a rough time." Eliza said, looking back and forth to Alec who awkwardly stood behind the two, towering over them both as Schue looked to be no more than 5'7.

"Will do, Eliza. It's nice to meet you Alec." Schue said, holding out his hand. Alec reached over, squeezed, and shook firmly just like his father had taught him too. "Strong grip."

"Thanks." Alec mumbled, pulling his hand away.

"Bye Alec." Eliza said, turning to give Alec a peck on the cheek. "Relax."

The bell rang just as she stepped out the door and Alec could hear her frantic footsteps as she hurried to her French class three doors down. He imagined her sassing the teacher when they asked why she was late. Schue's voice brought him out of his thoughts as he coughed and got the class's attention.

"Class we have a new student today. Alec, why don't you introduce yourself?" Schue asked.

"I'm Alec Lightwood, and I moved here from New York." Alec said, barely audible among the students turning their heads to whisper about him, more than likely.

"Great to have you here. Why don't you take any open seat you'd like and we'll get started on future tense." Schue said. Alec nodded, keeping his head down as he walked through the rows intending on taking the farthest seat back from the front as possible. But, as he got to the middle of the room he felt someone tug on his sleeve causing him to very ungracefully fall into a seat beside whoever it was.

He turned to look at the culprit and staring back at him were a pair of a big brown eyes and the biggest nose he had ever seen. He focused away from their face and turned to look the girl up and down, she had long brown hair and she dressed like a girl from the Belgium Institute that bit him once when he was nine. He listened as she began to speak, but instead of staring at her face like a weirdo he focused on her words, which wasn't hard considering she only said three.

"I'm Rachel Berry." She said, holding out her hand. Alec repeated the handshake he had done with Schue but this time she too in return gave a firm grip. Alec smiled, a firm handshake said a lot about a person, his Dad used to say, now only if he could remember what.

"Alec Lightwood." He said.

"I saw you in the hallways this morning with Eliza Roseblood. I was going to introduce myself, because it's always refreshing to see a new face around here, but I didn't want you to feel overwhelmed." Rachel said.

"How considerate." Alec said, attempting to focus his attention back on Schue. He listened for a moment or two before Rachel tapped his shoulder and began to speak again.

"What's New York like?" Rachel asked.

"Hm?" He asked, still focusing his eyes on Schue's tapping the board and having the class mumble in repetition as he spouted out conjugations.

"New York, that's where you're from. Did you live in the city? It's always been my dream to go to New York City." She asked, eyes lighting up as she turned them up a little bit as if lost in her daydream of it. He didn't dare tell her that wasn't all what his New York City was like, full of demons and sometimes meaningless violence, because that look in her eyes was so intoxicating. Was there anything he talked about that gave that look? Had no one mentioned it before? Maybe archery.

"I like it, it's nice." Alec said, watching as she was clearly dissatisfied with his answer. "Sometimes, in such a big city, when I take long walks I think about how lonely it is. All those people and it's just so easy to get lost in the crowd. And once you get sucked in, that's how the demons get you."

"That's morbid." She said.

"S'how I see the city I guess." Alec shrugged.

"Well maybe you've been on the wrong side of town." Rachel said, turning her attention finally back to Schue just as he finished.

"Tell me about it." He said, subconsciously rubbing the scar from where that low level just scraped him last week.

The bell rang, and he practically ran towards the door and still somehow Rachel caught him just as Eliza was coming down the hallway. Rachel turned towards him. "I think Lima will be good for you. The less crowded streets. Maybe you won't be so lonely."

Rachel patted his shoulder as she walked past him and Eliza came up to him with a smirk on her face. Alec blinked at the retreating girl a couple times as if processing what the heck just happened. Eliza giggled. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure." He said, and the two headed towards their next class.


	5. Chapter 5

The next two classes before gym had been rough. Teachers acted like they couldn't kill them any second,not that any of them would because the Accords protected mundanes, but they could do it if they were allowed to. Alec was sure they were just jealous that someone who had been home schooled (that's what Eliza told the school anyway), hadn't had trouble figuring out US History (which was a lot of politics and Alec knew politics like no one else) or Chemistry (which was basically jut herbal remedy studies which Alec had been studying since he was ten).

Gym class had three options today: foundation of fitness, which was basically just weights, lifetime fitness, which was things like rollerblading, and adventure ed. Adventure ed was held in the basement and that's where, Eliza excitedly told him, they held the archery equipment. Eliza liked archery enough so she decided to join him, however quickly got distracted by teaching a handicapped boy how to shoot.

He ran his left hand over the bow the string of the bow, letting his middle fingertip stop just below the nocking point. He closed his eyes, trailed his fingers back down the string, like he was memorizing the feel of it in his hand. He let his hand wander to the wooden part of the bow, the arrow rest familiar to him as he opened his eye to reach down and pull an arrow out from the bin. The arrows, nor the bow for that matter, were not high quality. He didn't expect much from a public school in Ohio, but they were nice enough to wear the string didn't wither down in between his fingers and the head of the arrow fit snug on the stick (not too tight, not too loose). He set the arrow in the rest, pulled the bow up to his level and looked. He took a deep breath before pulling back, letting the tension in his body slip from his hands to the bow, and then he found a target at the other side of the room and let go.

He breathed out as the arrow made a satisfying sound against the target as it ripped through it, he could hear clapping behind him and he turned around. A boy with brown hair that spiked upward and wore dark red velvet jean with a white dress shirt seemed to be clapping for him. Alec blushed, turning his head down towards the floor before taking out another arrow and fiddling it between his fingers.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you,. You seemed so concentrated, do you like to do archery?" He asked.

"It's one of the only things I'm good at." Alec shrugged.

"That and wearing skinny jeans." He smiled. Alec nodded, turning to look across the long empty room at Eliza who had her arms wrapped around the handicapped boy's shoulders as she tried to show him how to hold the arrow in between his two fingers. The boy followed his eyes, noticed the two, and turned back to laugh at him.

"Yeah they've been pretty close since she got here. But she seems to be teaching him some what of a physical skill." He nodded. "She's no match to you of course."

"I should know." Alec said, watching as she pulled the boy's arm back at too high of an angle to hit the center of the target. "I taught her how to do it after all."

The boy nodded, before reaching out his hand. "I should have introduced myself before hand, the names Kurt Hummel."

"Alec Lightwood." He said, returning the handshake.

"I'm in Glee Club with Eliza." Kurt said, as Alec turned back round to face the target and shoot another perfect shot straight to the center of the red and white target. Kurt made a sound of surprise at his clear ability to multitask.

"So I've heard." Alec said. "About Glee Club I mean. How many people are in it, exactly?"

"Not many. Although we're always looking for new recruits, all you need is a voice." Kurt's voice was high pitched, sing song like, he probably wanted a lot of the feminine songs considering they were better for his voice but most likely got stuck with male parts too low for him. Not that Alec paid that close attention to music.

"Singing's not my thing." Alec shrugged.

"You must like more physical activities like your brother." Kurt said, taking note of the clear distinction of muscle underneath Alec's "McKinley High Phys Ed" shirt.

"Jace?" Alec asked.

"I guess. I'm pretty sure Coach has already asked him to lead two different sports teams, don't ask which ones I'm not that knowledgeable." Kurt laughed at himself, but Alec just bit his lip and nodded. Not even the end of day one and Jace was already the star. "You don't see that excited about that."

"Jace can do whatever he wants." Alec shrugged.

"I can't say Glee Club will make you more popular, but you will probably make some friends." He said, reaching his hand over the shoulder of his shirt.

"I don't really make friends." Alec said, turning to watch the boy he was talking to as he pulled back an arrow.

"The dark sullen bad boy type, eh?" Kurt gasped as Alec shot an arrow straight in the center without even looking at the target. "But, you seem to be friends with Eliza."

"Cousin." Alec mumbled, setting the bow down onto the ground. "S'different."

"Well consider me your first friend at McKinley." Kurt said, holding out his own hand. Alec, surprisingly, had had enough of handshakes today. He instead smacked the boys hand, in almost a sideways high five kind of way, as Kurt stumbled towards the direction of the force. Alec laughed, and then he turned to look at Eliza.

She had her hand on the handicapped boy's shoulder, leaning down towards his face as she laughed, presumably at something he said. He had a small little smile, and his eyes were following every movement she made from the shaking of her head to the lifting her up to her face to cover her mouth as she laughed.

"They like each other. I think. Not sure, you can never really be sure. I was sure Mike and Tina were forever but he just called it off a little bit ago, just before Eliza transferred. Maybe he likes her or something. They do talk a bit in Glee Club." Kurt was rambling, Alec didn't know him very well (hell he just met the guy) but for some reason he felt like that wasn't something Kurt did.

"Are you still talking?" Alec said, honestly he stopped listening after 'I think' because he couldn't trust what was coming out of this kids mouth. If Eliza liked someone, someone that was involved in the mission in anyway (someone that was a mundane), she would have told him, wouldn't she of? Alec turned to look at Kurt who had sort of a surprised smirk on his face. "Sorry."

"Don't be." He smiled, before looking over at the clock. "Oh I better make it back to study hall before the end of the period. See you around,"

"Alec." He said.

"Right. See you around, Alec." He said before turning to go back to shooting when someone behind them shouted ten minutes. He sighed, started to pick up the archery equipment and put it back on the wall when Eliza and her friend came over to him.

"Well you're quite the star around here aren't you Alec?" Eliza said, patting him on the back as she reached him.

"Not really." He shrugged.

"Sure you are. You've met Rachel, and Kurt. And now, Artie. Artie this is Alec, the one I told you about." She said, tilting her head a little bit and her hair fell over the front side of her ear. Artie nodded at Alec, before turning to look at Eliza.

"Is he gonna come?" Artie asked.

"Come where?" Alec asked.

"Glee Club. Artie, I don't think so. Alec and his siblings really have to focus on school and getting caught up." Eliza said, putting on that warning tone that said 'don't argue'. She didn't use it very often, her sister was the more aggressive one definitely, but this was reserved for people who aren't listening.

"Come on dude, there's like a ton of banging chicks there." Artie said, looking towards Eliza before turning his head back to him.

"I don't think Alec's necessarily interested in banging chicks Artie. Now, let's get you to class before we get pile drived in the hallway. Alec," She paused. "Wait for me just outside the gym, I'll come down to pick you up and take you to lunch."

"Okay." He said, going up the locker room and getting changed. He waited outside the gym with Isabelle and Jace, pacing back and worth in his head (because if he did it for real, people would look at him funny). And he remembered what Clary and Simon had told them about the lunch room.

"Just wait til lunchtime." Clary had laughed. "You'll love it."

"All those beady little eyes starring at you like some kind of freak, where you gonna sit huh?" Simon had shaken his head back and forth as if reliving the memory.

However when Eliza picked them up and started down a hallway it didn't look like a crowd of angry and hungry teenagers, instead she pulled them into a staff women's bathroom closet. Actually what was glamoured to look like a staff women's bathroom closet.

The room was light blue, with a singular table in the center of it only big enough where they could sit and eat their prepared lunches. Alec sat down, listened as Jace and Isabelle talked about what classes they had and how the teachers were. But eventually the four just sat in silence, the only sounds filling the small room were soundings of chewing and swallowing food.

They bid their farewells to each other before returning back to their schedules. Algebra 2 hadn't been so bad, it was just math after all. It didn't have to be that complicated, if you thought about it too hard, you'll never understand any of it. Economics was basically more politics, which Alec was still exceptional at, and the this teacher however seemed to be very pleased with him, while the other one hadn't very much so. However, as Economics ended, so did all that was familiar to Alec. Because his last class was something he had never dreamed of doing in his life, the arts. While Eliza explained the options, they stood at the end of the arts wing and looked down. The floor slopped downward, the louder the ensemble the further it went, except for the dance room at the end of the hall just before the auditorium, the only ensemble missing was the choir room, but that was a little bit to their backs. Alec took a deep breath, and looked down at the list below.


End file.
